Black Mesa Xen Headed To Public Beta In August

The long-awaited remake of Gordon Freeman’s original alien adventure is nearing its release, with the hotly anticipated ‘Xen’ section approaching a public beta in the very near future.

If you’re out of the loop on this one – a group of developers known as the Crowbar Collective have taken to remaking the iconic FPS, the project starting early in the 10’s, with the first part grounded in the facility itself releasing in 2015 on Steam.

However, if you’ve played 1998’s Half-Life you’ll remember the absurd, surreal alien escapade that Gordon embarks on near the end of the game. A far cry from the brutalist, alien infested halls of Black Mesa and the surrounding canyons.

Crowbar Collective have decided against making Xen a simple jaunt in Black Mesa, and have taken to creating five chapters for players to adventure through – fleshing out the environmentally fascinating section into its own pseudo-expansion.

And you can play it for yourself when Black Mesa opens its doors to the public in an August beta that will provide players a glimpse of the alien expansion – with the first two ‘Xen’ chapters on display, full of creepy crawlies, alien nests, and a palpable, enrapturing atmosphere.

When it launches next month you’ll have to head to Black Mesa on Steam, right-click the game, go to properties and open up the betas tab – where you should see a new build of the game available to download and play.

Thanks to the rampant popularity of remakes, Black Mesa has an ardent fan base already, with the project being especially virulent thanks to the fact that Valve has been giving Half-Life the silent treatment since 2007’s Episode 2, which left the deeply influential series on a dastardly cliffhanger.

Here’s hoping the full remake lives up to the hype! Available now on PC as Early Access on Steam, for more information you can visit the official website.